Hi and welcome to another week,

Thanks to everyone who got along to the gym last week.  I hope all of the morning crew have been enjoying the extra padwork sessions (and the rest of each class as well!).  The training sessions were pretty challenging all week last week and I know by the time Friday came around I was feeling a little sore and sorry for myself pretty much everywhere.  Which I guess is good and representative of new challenges in our training or maybe just better ‘effort’ by me?  In any case, it is good to feel like I am still pushing forward after having the ‘Boxing for Fitness’ class at Round 1 as the primary focus of my training for nearly seven years now.

This week I wanted to write a little bit about the various offerings we have in the gym and when / why I think you should get involved.  The intention isn’t for this to read as an ‘advertorial’ (is that even a word?) but I have read it over a couple of times and added this intro back in because I can’t quite shake that feeling…never mind, it is what it is.  I am writing this because I feel like I have had a heap of people say to me lately ‘can you explain to me what you DO at Round 1’ and even after all this time I kind of can’t seem to find the words.  Regardless of everything that follows, I guess what I want to say is that what we HAVE at Round 1 is a TRAINING focussed gym environment where our focus is on training you guys…our focus is not on getting in a lot of equipment and telling you to ‘just get at it’ because to me that creates nothing but confusion.

First off, we try to get everyone to start with a Beginners class.  This is a bit of an intro to technique – be it boxing, body weight exercises, barbell stuff, kettlebell stuff – we try to cover a range of things depending on what the focus of each ‘Beginners’ class is set to be (though we always do some boxing stuff).  To me though Beginners is about more than technique – it is a bit of a cultural introduction to the way everything works at the gym…from the ‘get your chilli hot’ stuff to the standard back warm-up to class explanations and demos to ‘what to do when the bell rings’.  Beginners is the BEST place for everyone to start and if you get through a couple of those sessions you have at the very least a ‘fighting chance’ to get through your first ‘Boxing’ session.

I guess it is at Beginners where we hope – as I said above – that people come away with as much of a ‘cultural intro’ to the gym as details on how to throw a right-hook.  It is that understanding that you aren’t coming in to be surrounded by a whole heap of machines and ‘figure it out’ – that an instructor is going to lead you through a session and will be challenging you to ‘do your best’ through-out.  And pushing you to maybe do a little bit more than you did ‘last time’.

From Beginners we hope everyone’s next progression will be to a ‘Boxing’ or as it is often called a ‘normal’ class.  But Boxing classes are anything but normal and there are almost 2000 of them on the books now – the session plan really does change every single day.  Of course, they are all variations on a theme – you will be boxing, doing some cardio, some strength and some core work – but in a combination that you probably can’t predict (unless you have seen one of the daily videos up on Instagram or Facebook!) before you come to the gym.  Our boxing class is written to support ‘everyone’ – in theory – with training options for ‘Fitness’ (suitable for people new to the gym or those training once or twice per week) and ‘Performance’ (aimed at people trying to make progress with their training and attending 3+ times per week).  It is an awesome workout and the most popular class at the gym by a long (long) way.

B+ is a hybrid session which focuses on Boxing and Body Weight exercises.  To me it is a pretty traditional ‘old school’ boxing gym type session – you punch the bags, do some push-ups, punch some more, do some sit-ups.  In many ways the B+ class is the class I envisioned running most of the time when I first opened Round 1 back in 2010.

Body Work is a class which is a combination of pure’ cardio intermixed with strength based activities.  By pure cardio I mean running, skipping, rowing, assault bikes, versa climbers and ski-ergs.  When I write the program for Body Work I try to have a picture in my head that this is the training program I would write if I was trying to prepare a TEAM of athletes to compete in a physical sport such as football, rugby, soccer, netball, tennis etc – you will get warm, do some conditioning, lift some (heavy) weights, do some more conditioning…and probably finish by lifting some more weights.  Of course, you would do some sport specific skill stuff in addition to this work BUT to me if you have some sports performance goals, them Body Work is the class for you.  Personally I love doing the body work classes but do find them hard to get through if I am following a separate weights program…essentially, doing Body Work (and TANKS for that matter) compromises my ability to do my lifting stuff but of course if you don’t have the time to follow your own lifting program AND have a goal that relates to improved athleticism or sports performance then jumping into one or two Body Work classes each week would be a great way to achieve those goals.

The next step ‘up’ from Body Work is TANKS – where the lifting focus ‘narrows’ and you will do some more complicated movements AND additional accessory work to really help you lift your performance and enable you to really push ahead.  Like I said, TANKS includes some more complicated movements AND some challenging rep schemes that can really push you to the edge.  In many ways, I treat TANKS as ‘Body Work Plus’ when I am writing the programs and look as it as an extension program for experienced lifters who might have hit a plateau in their performance ‘just’ doing body work (and boxing of course) classes.  Tanks WILL help you push past plateaus in your max lifts / cardio performance and, like ‘they’ say, you have to stress to progress…TANKS gives you the ‘stress’ stimulus you need to push forward.

When I was pulling all of this together it struck me that we have been doing something else that is pretty cool for about 6-months or so now – running free workshops every single Friday night at 7pm that give you a bit of an insight into how to improve your performance in ‘one’ area of your training.  It might be core, squat technique, foam rolling and recovery, bench press – who knows?  Eden does a great job with these work-shops and if you ever find yourself at a loose end on a Friday, checking out the workshop is a great way to help you learn something new and move forward with your training.

What else do we do?  Well – I guess the other main thing that happens at Round 1 is that we run a new gym ‘CHALLENGE’ every second month.  Some of these challenges include food and training (like the June challenge called ‘THE ONE’) others are like the current challenge and only include training elements.  I just think these are an awesome way to give your training a bit of a kick along – the challenges set you a target for classes to complete, give you some ‘extra’ training to do, they might ask you to ‘give up’ one of your favourite food items for a couple of weeks…basically, they hold you accountable to do the things you say you are ‘gonna’ do when you have those moments of reflection!  Personally I love the challenges and always ‘jump in’ and do them – I usually find that just that little bit of extra focus I have to give my training gives me a great outcome in terms of body composition.

What else?  Well…the next one is really in the ‘development’ stage and is all about food.  Having looked at everything we do at the gym we sort of figured we had every base covered…but as Sarah pointed out, every base except maybe the most important one – helping people with their food planning and food choices.  And this has all led to the soon to be available ‘FOOD MATTERS’ program.  There is some more info about this in the blog below but in short it is a 2-month, instructor led food ‘journey’ that we have a few people running through what I guess could be loosely termed a ‘pilot’ program at the moment – and getting some pretty amazing outcomes.  I am super excited about the program as I really think it is something that could make a massive difference in the lives of so many people…

I guess that about covers it.  I guess I have left out Personal Training but that was because I was assuming everyone ‘knew’ about that…but in case you don’t, remember that PT services are available if you are looking to improve a skill, work towards a goal at an accelerated rate or maybe just need that extra 1-on-1 accountability to stay ‘on-track’.  PT is awesome with our trainers at the gym and if you really can’t get exactly what you need from the classes then please speak up and get yourself a little bit of personal training organised.

See you all in the gym,

Michael.

Gym Update #1 – The 1608 Challenge – Week 1 DOWN!

‘Summer Bodies are made in Winter’ and the August Challenge is now TWO (2)-weeks down.

I know I made a bit of a pledge in the blog last week to get on top of my ‘extras’…somehow as I type this though I have still done a grand total of ZERO.  My classes are well under control (11 done) but I am no-where near on track for my challenges and just need to start finding a way to get them finished.

If you are in the same boat as me – or maybe you are also struggling with your classes? – remember that the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time…get yourself into the gym tomorrow and just make a ‘little bit’ of progress towards the end goal.  You still have more than enough time to get all the classes AND all the extras done even if you have only just scratched the surface of what is required.

In case you have been hiding under a rock, the details are:

Classes – There will be 16x Boxing classes (or Body Work, or B+, or TANKS, or Beginners) to slog through during the month…it works out to a touch over 3 sessions per week.

Extras – There will be 8x ‘EXTRAS’ to complete during the month.  We will be setting this up so that you have a choice of 15x extra workouts to push through – some will be as short as ten minutes of effort, a couple of them will take a fair bit longer.  There are no ‘extra’ points for doing the longer challenges (you can do the same one eight (8) times if you like!) but it is about matching yourself to the challenges that best suit your own weaknesses/strengths AND the time that YOU have available.

(p.s.  The t-shirts are done – I just have to go and pick them up!!!  Should be in the gym by the middle of the week or thereabouts).

Gym Update #4 – New Gym Wear

Our newest gear – the ‘Earned Not Given’ singlets and muscle-tee’s are now on the shelves and ready for sale.  This is pretty cool gear from AS Colour with a new and uniquely R1 logo…I love the idea that everything you are has been ‘Earned’ and not handed to you (and like to think that my kids are growing up understanding that but who really knows??).  $35 for this gear.

It looks like there will be one more release of hoodies this year – same as the ‘#committed’ ones but potentially in a new colour – I am just working through the details at the moment.

Gym Update #5 – Squat Therapy

Congratulations to all of the ‘Squat Therapy’ crew for getting through their first ‘formal’ session – now don’t forget to do your ‘homework’.  I watched (well, from the vantage of the adjacent Beginners class) as Eden put the guys through some squat fundamentals and a heap of accessory exercises.

Gym Update #6 – Weight Belts

The new weight belts are in the gym and are super awesome.  I am guessing as I write this but I am pretty sure the prices are $35 for the ‘velcro’ belts and $70 for the leather ones.  Which is awesome.  I actually feel a bit sick having paid a touch over $170 for a single pin leather lifting belt a little more than 6-months ago…now we have double pin belts available in the gym for less than half of that price.

Footy Tips and DreamTeam

Well, upsets galore mean low scores galore.  Our average score for the weekend (across the competition) was just 4 which is the lowest for the season…regardless, Kristy Morris closed the gap on top spot by somehow selecting 7 winners and is now just 2 behind.  Exactly why she selected the hapless Brisbane and even more hapless Essendon to win remains unclear but it looks like the race to the finish line is back on  Others to pick 7 winners were Nigel Andrews and ‘Perfect Pairs’ (I have no idea who that is!).

Over in Dream Team, Daniel (Wooshas Pharmaceuticals) snuck past Justin (Beeliar Bogans) by just 20 points and will meet Lloyd in one preliminary final next week.  In the other semi, Rocco cranked out a massive score of 2400 points and cruised to victory against Craig (Cat-astrophic) – he will play Travis in the other preliminary final.  Rocco actually finished the season 8^th on the ladder – 3 times in the past our competition has been won by the team that finished 8^th and given his outstanding late season form it looks like it might happen again!

Link of the week

Before going to this weeks’ link, I hope everyone got a chance to see the story last week about Mo Farrah – what he did in the 10000m earlier today (getting knocked to the ground in the early stages of the race before getting to his feet and going on to win the event) was quite astounding…whilst the video last week was obviously designed to create a little bit of mystique around his training/physical and mental toughness you could see watching the race today that every single thing about the guy is 100% REAL.

More Olympics stuff this week…great presentation on Simone Biles who of course won the women’s ‘All-Round’ gymnastics gold:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDkfNK-Hs54